1. Sounds of the Day
Norman MacCaig

2. Stanza One
When a clatter came,
it was horses crossing the ford.
When the air creaked, it was
a lapwing seeing us off the premises
of its private marsh. A snuffling puff
ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and
unblocking a hole in a rock.When the black drums rolled, it was water
falling sixty feet into itself.

3. Stanza Two
When the door
scraped shut, it was the end
of all the sounds there are.

4. Stanza Three
You left me
beside the quietest fire in the world.

5. Stanza Four
I thought I was hurt in my pride only,
forgetting that,
when you plunge your hand in freezing water,
you feel
a bangle of ice round your wrist
before the whole hand goes numb.

6. Overview
The speaker in Sounds of the Day reflects upon a parting. Though the poem descriptively begins with the interpretation of sounds, it moves onto examine the impact of a separation. The poem opens with natural sounds, while the sound of a closing door signals the opening of the second stanza and turns the poem from the relatively pleasant picture of nature towards a darker, more reflective focus. The most striking imagery is reserved for the final stanza in which the speaker articulates the strength of feeling associated with the parting.

7. Form and Structure
MacCaig was a lyric poet and a master of precise observation and dry wit. This poem is written in free verse made up of four irregular stanzas. The division between each of the stanzas helps to focus the reader on the specific idea that is contained within each one and the poem is organised in a fairly straightforward chronological order.
In the opening stanza, the speaker describes natural sounds: horses, a bird, waves and a waterfall. On its own, this stanza paints a pleasant picture and indicates the speaker’s delight in nature- such apposite descriptions reveal affection for the natural world. When we read what follows, this stanza acts as an important counterpoint to the darker, more emotionally raw descriptions of the speaker’s feelings.
The shut door, described in the second stanza, is the turning point of the poem. Here the ideas move from a delight found in a variety of natural sounds to a reflection upon one specific experience: a parting.
The personal nature of the poem is apparent in the third stanza as the speaker addresses the person who has left. The impact of this parting is conveyed through the hyperbole employed to describe the fire. We get the impression of a figure, suddenly alone, faced with the consequences of a separation.
Having established the theme of the poem, the speaker moves on to offer an honest assessment of how deeply he has been affected by the experience. The shock of freezing water, followed by the numbness, conveys the complexity of parting. The relationship has meant a lot to the speaker and the separation, though painful enough during the moment itself, has left a lasting impression.

8. Themes
This poem deals with the themes of love and loss. The title, like the first stanza, seems almost innocuous and gives no hint of the dark, melancholic end to the poem. While the initial lines are indeed focused on the Sounds of the Day, they disguise the darker undertones contained within the verses.
The closing door is an important image in the poem and introduces the theme of loss and parting. The parallel structure of the sentences in the opening stanza is suddenly disrupted - the door, scraped shut, is not linked to something straightforward, it stands for the significance of parting. For the speaker, the separation is significant and painful. He feels his life has been changed and his senses have been altered forever.
MacCaig explores how parting affects us in a significant way. He captures both the initial, difficult pain of a break-up but also the lasting effect such experiences can have on us.
Ironically, it is the rawness of this pain that helps to emphasise the intensity of emotion the relationship brought. Love is usually depicted in poetry positively, yet this love has resulted only in pain and heartbreak, leaving the reader to consider whether this relationship has been worth the pain of parting.

9. The Poem –
Annotated

10. Stanza One When a clatter came, it was horses crossing the ford.
A pleasant impression of nature is conveyed during the opening of the poem. At first the title seems unambiguous and straightforward as the opening lines seem only to list the sounds of the day. In these lines MacCaig's observational skills are evident in the precision with which the sounds are described. The horses clatter, the lapwing makes the air creak, the waves emit a snuffling puff over the rock and the waterfall is the sound of black drums.
The word choice suggests a speaker at ease, enjoying the moment. The list in this stanza is inverted, with the sound coming before the subject or object that makes them. In this way, the speaker emphasises it is the sound, rather than the horses or bird, or ocean or waterfall that is most evocative and memorable about this day.
When a clatter came,
it was horses crossing the ford.
When the air creaked, it was
a lapwing seeing us off the premises
of its private marsh. A snuffling puff
ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and
unblocking a hole in a rock.When the black drums rolled, it was water
falling sixty feet into itself.
MacCaig uses onomatopoeia and alliteration to imitate these specific sounds, some of which seem to startle the speaker while others are more pleasing. Regardless of the effect, what is most significant is the acuteness and descriptiveness of these distinct sounds in emphasising how alert the speaker is to them. The personification of the lapwing is light-hearted and playful. The bird becomes territorial, a landlord or gamekeeper, ushering the speaker from its domain. The fact such delicate sounds can be heard suggests a still, practically silent environment. Here silence is something enriching which allows the speaker to hear and appreciate the natural world.
However, the word choice of black, the adjective used to describe the drums in the closing lines of the opening stanza hints this poem may have more serious undertones. On its own, this image is an appropriate way to interpret the deep, thundering tones of the waterfall. When we read further though the drums have a deeper meaning and become an ominous, brooding sound effect marking a turning point and foreshadowing the bleaker ideas contained within the remainder of the poem.

11. Stanza Two When the door scraped shut, it was the end
Sentence structure plays an important role in the poem to establish the contrast between the first stanza and the lines that follow. The inversion of the relationship of the sound to the object from the previous stanza ends here in the line the door/scraped shut. This change places the door in the more prominent position while the sound of it closing coming at the end helps to reinforce the assertion in the remainder of that stanza it was the end/of all the sounds there are. From here on the absence of sound in the poem is hugely important. The silence that allowed him to hear so keenly the sounds of the natural world has returned, yet this silence is oppressive and suffocates the speaker’s aural sense.
The hyperbole of it was the end/of all the sounds there are underlines the significance of the moment. While before the speaker was delighted in describing the sounds of nature, now he shows us this pleasure has vanished. We get a clear sense of the painful despair that accompanies parting: the feeling that nothing will ever be the same again.
When the door
scraped shut, it was the end
of all the sounds there are.
The shutting door is a metaphor through which MacCaig compares the door closing to the end of a relationship. Just as a door closing creates a barrier between two places, so too the final moment of a relationship (the parting) represents the crossing point between togetherness and separation. The speaker’s mood of despair is apparent: though we know a door can be reopened, here the speaker seems convinced that, once closed, this one will remain shut. There is no suggestion of the hope of a reunion.
Note that this poem is about the pain of loss. Thus it can be compared to Memorial, Visiting Hour and Aunt Julia. However here the pain of loss stems from a broken relationship and not the death of a loved one.

12. Stanza Three You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.
The single-sentence stanza explains the reason for this abrupt shift in mood. The monosyllabic directness and the use of the second person in the line You left me is plaintive and utterly lacking in ambiguity. The speaker wants to be clear about the shattering consequences on him of this event. Gone is the playful, poetic language of the opening stanza and so too is the speaker’s feelings of contentment, replaced by abject loneliness and isolation.
Hyperbole is again used to communicate the extreme emotional pain associated with parting, as he is left in a room with what he describes as the quietest fire in the world. This line highlights the suddenness of this new silence. This also creates an interesting paradox since the effect of being alone should only exaggerate the sound of the fire, when in fact it seems to mute it.
You left me
beside the quietest fire in the world.
Effectively, the speaker implies the impact of this parting on him is that he is no longer able to hear and take any pleasure in sounds- so profound is his sense of loss it seems to have resulted in the loss of one of his most enriching senses.

13. Stanza Four
In stark contrast to the pleasing imagery and mood of the opening stanza, the final verse is utterly bleak as the speaker reaches his conclusion. The sensory focus of the poem moves from sound to touch as he equates the effect of the parting to immersing a hand into freezing water.
The metaphor of the bangle of ice also helps to capture and describe the intensity of the raw and painful sense of loss experienced in the initial aftermath of a break-up. The poem ends with the realisation this experience has affected more than just his pride and he has suffered a profound loss.
I thought I was hurt in my pride only,
forgetting that,
when you plunge your hand in freezing water,
you feel
a bangle of ice round your wrist
before the whole hand goes numb.
This is effective in describing the initial jarring pain of this experience and the subsequent feeling of numbness it is replaced with. This is a paradox since the hand is a part of the body we most associate with touch, yet the effect of touching the ice cold water renders him unable to feel. In this way then, he conveys the emotional pain that still lies, like the hand, beneath the surface even if he is numb to it at the moment.
Note that this is also a poem about realisation. This it can be compared and contrasted with Assisi, Basking Shark and Aunt Julia.